The invention relates to telephonic communications. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and device for toll-free telephonic communications.
Toll-free long distance telephonic communications is presently expensive and awkward. Traditionally, toll-free telephone calls required the assistance of a human operator to seek authorization by the called party to accept the call and its accompanying charges. More recently, toll-free callers have been required to dial special prefixes to access less costly toll-free long distance services. Calling cards, whether prepaid to a fixed amount or subject to periodic billing, although not directly providing toll-free calling, can be used to shift the cost of long distance calls from a caller to an intended recipient of calls when the intended recipient of calls gives a calling card to the caller. However, a disadvantage of using a calling card gift as a cost shifting mechanism is that the intended recipient of calls (i.e., the giver) loses control of the gift, because the caller (i.e., the gift recipient) is free to call others using the calling card.
According to a method of the present invention, a caller dials a telephone number, which is preferably a toll-free number, to establish a connection with a telecommunications platform. The caller then enters a authorization code that the telecommunications platform validates. If the authorization code is valid, the telecommunications platform can connect the caller to a called party or record a message by the caller for later retrieval by the called party.
As contrasted with conventional toll-free calling, the present invention offers a toll-free telephonic communications service that has the potential to be more economical, may provide enhanced services, and better accomplishes cost shifting.